By Kim Steele
Bartlett Express Editor
A Bartlett woman lost the top of her right ring finger recently when a shouting match escalated into a fight and another woman bit it off above the first knuckle.
“I bit it off. O-F-F, off,” said Cynthia Johnson, 44, according to an affidavit by the Bartlett Police Department. “And I spit it out in the yard.”
Johnson was charged with aggravated assault in connection with the case. She has posted a $20,000 bond set by Bartlett Municipal Court Judge Freeman Marr.
According to the affidavit, Johnson was visiting her sister-in-law’s house at 5134 Misty River on March 18 when Johnson and a neighbor, Nathaniel Mebane, exchanged angry words. Johnson told police that Mebane, who is married, was flirting with her daughter.
The affidavit states that Mebane and his mother, Jackie Harris, came to the residence and asked to speak to Johnson. The two women began a verbal argument in the front yard that quickly escalated into screaming, then pushing and swinging at each other, the affidavit states.
At some point during the altercation, police said, Johnson bit off the top of Harris’ right ring finger and spit it out. Police were able to locate the piece of finger in the front yard grass, and Bartlett Fire Department personnel preserved the digit and took it to Methodist Hospital-North.
The affidavit states Mebane took his mother to the hospital, but hospital staff were not able to reattach the finger.
